ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the hormonal involvement in the regulation of the hydrolysis of storage proteins in the maize endosperm. It explores the processes involved in the initial solubilization of those storage proteins. Prolamines which are located in protein bodies, are rich in proline, leucine and glutamine, and the glutelins which form a structural support of protein bodies and amyloplasts are the major proteins in the cereal endosperm. The chapter shows that the control of sprouting or normal germination rests initially with metabolic events in the embryo, subsequently and, in response to signals from the embryo, digestion of the endosperm commences. U. Feller and R. H. Hageman have shown an increase in both endopeptidase(s) and carboxylpeptidase(s) in endosperm tissues after germination and a decrease in amino-peptidase activity. Endosperm enzyme preparations and assays were carried out as described by B. M. R. Harvey and A. Oaks and Feller and Hageman.
